OCEANSIDE – Police are stepping up patrols in the Mesa Margarita area after a number of gang-related shootings that began early Sunday.

"These are not random acts," said Lt. Shawn Murray. The shooters are targeting specific individuals and residences, he said.

Hispanic, Samoan and black gangs have been active in Mesa Margarita, Murray said. Police were not able to say which gangs are involved in the recent shootings.

Residents say the violence has them on edge. A community meeting to address the issue is being planned for March 29.

"We don't want it to escalate," said Joanne Rush, a resident who works at the San Luis Rey Community Resource Center.

There were two shootings Sunday and three shootings Tuesday.

About 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, a 23-year-old man who was sitting on his Gold Drive porch was shot after he exchanged words with a passer-by. His injuries were not life-threatening.

Neighbor William Musser said he was cooking when he heard five shots in rapid succession.

"I fell to the kitchen floor and crawled to the back room and called police," Musser said.

Nearly seven hours later, shots were fired into a house on Charles Street, but a 34-year-old man inside was not injured, police said. Two males ran from the scene.

Shortly after 11 p.m., a gunman walked up to a partially open garage door on Poplar Road and fired several rounds at people inside, police said. No one was injured.

Although Poplar is outside Mesa Margarita, police believe the case is linked to the others.

On Sunday, a 23-year-old man was shot about 1:20 a.m. at the 7-Eleven at Vandergrift Boulevard and Redondo Drive. Shortly before 6 a.m., a 41-year-old woman was wounded when shots were fired into a garage in the 500 block of Arthur Street. Their injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

Rush said she knows the woman shot on Arthur and the man injured on Gold Drive.

"I was just in shock," said Rush, adding that the area had been relatively peaceful. "A lot of people are on edge," she said.

Musser, who has lived on Gold Drive since the 1960s, said the sound of Tuesday's gunfire stayed with him the whole night.

"When we first moved here, it used to be a nice town. It's just disintegrated into a slum," Musser said.